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<title>Table of contents (toc) files</title>
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<h2>Table of contents (toc) files</h2>

<P >
Now that we have our sample content files we can create a table of contents (<b>toc</b>)
file. A toc file defines the key entry points into the HTML content files by mapping a topic
label to a reference in one of the HTML files.&nbsp; </P>
<P >
Applications that are being migrated to the platform can reuse existing documentation by
using the toc file to define entry points into that documentation. </P>
<P >
A plug-in can have one or more toc files. Our example documentation is organized into three main categories: concepts, tasks and reference. How do we make
toc files that represent this structure?</P>
<P >
We could make one large toc file, or we could create a separate toc file for each main category of content. This decision should be made according to the way your documentation teams work together.
If a different author owns each category, it might be preferable to keep
separate toc files for each category.&nbsp; It is not dictated by the platform architecture. </P>
<P >
In this example, we will create a toc file for each major content category. For such a small number of files,
having separate toc files for each category may not be necessary.&nbsp; We
will build this example as if we had many more files or had separate authors who
own each content category.</P>
<P >
Our files look like this:</P>

<H4>toc_Concepts.xml</H4>
<pre>
   &lt;toc label=&quot;Concepts&quot;&gt;
      &lt;topic label=&quot;Concept1&quot; href=&quot;html/concepts/concept1.html&quot;&gt;
         &lt;topic label=&quot;Concept1_1&quot; href=&quot;html/concepts/concept1_1.html&quot;/&gt;
         &lt;topic label=&quot;Concept1_2&quot; href=&quot;html/concepts/concept1_2.html&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;/topic&gt; 
   &lt;/toc&gt;
</pre>

<H4>
toc_Tasks.xml</H4>
<pre>
   &lt;toc label=&quot;Tasks&quot;&gt;
      &lt;topic id=&quot;plainTasks&quot; label=&quot;Plain Stuff&quot;&gt;
         &lt;topic label=&quot;Task1&quot; href=&quot;html/tasks/task1.html&quot;/&gt;
         &lt;topic label=&quot;Task2&quot; href=&quot;html/tasks/task2.html&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;/topic&gt;
      &lt;topic id=&quot;funTasks&quot; label=&quot;Fun Stuff&quot; &gt;
         &lt;topic label=&quot;Task3_1&quot; href=&quot;html/tasks/task3_1.html&quot;/&gt;
         &lt;topic label=&quot;Task3_2&quot; href=&quot;html/tasks/task3_2.html&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;/topic&gt;
   &lt;/toc&gt;
</pre>

<H4>
toc_Ref.xml</H4>
<pre>
   &lt;toc label=&quot;Reference&quot;&gt;
      &lt;topic label=&quot;Ref1&quot; href=&quot;html/ref/ref1.html&quot;/&gt;
      &lt;topic label=&quot;Ref2&quot; href=&quot;html/ref/ref2.html&quot;/&gt;
   &lt;/toc&gt;
</pre>
<P >
 A topic can be a simple link to content.&nbsp;
For example, &quot;Task1&quot; provides a <b>label</b>
and an <b>href</b> linking to the content.&nbsp; A
topic can also be a hierarchical grouping of sub topics with no content of its
own.&nbsp; For example, &quot;Fun Stuff&quot; has only a <b>label</b>
and sub topics, but no <b>href</b> .&nbsp; Topics can
do both, too.&nbsp; &quot;Concept1&quot; has an <b>href</b>
and sub topics. </P>

<p><b>Dynamic content</b></p>

<p>
Dynamic content is available for the table of contents in the form of
<a href="ua_dynamic_filters.htm">filters</a> and <a href="ua_dynamic_extensions.htm">
extensions</a>. For example, you may want a topic to show up in the table of contents
only when running on a specific operating system.
</p>

<p>
<a href="ua_dynamic_includes.htm">Includes</a> are not supported here because they
are not needed; use <a href="ua_help_content_nested.htm">links</a> instead.
</p>

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